Stubborn belly fat is the hardest to lose. Understanding the different types of belly fat can help you determine their underlying causes and give you insights on how to lose them.
Wondering if you’ll need to do a hundred sit-ups a day in order to get those washboard abs?
The good news is achieving that flat stomach is easier than you think once you identify the root cause and make tweaks to your diet and lifestyle.
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What is Belly Fat?
Belly fat, also known as visceral fat, is fat that hangs beneath your abdominal muscles and surrounds your major organs such as the heart and the liver.
Abdominal fat cells are metabolically active with the ability to impact every organ in your body through its secretion of hormones and chemicals.
In a healthy body, the hormones and chemicals secreted by fat cells can help to regulate your insulin, appetite, and even burn stored fat.
However, bodies that are overweight tend to have more and larger fat cells than normal that can produce more hormones and chemicals than it needs. This negatively impacts the body over time.
What does Belly Fat Do to Your Body?
Having excess belly fat in your body can increase your risk of:
- heart diseases
- high blood pressure
- stroke
- type 2 diabetes
- breathing problems
- abnormal cholesterol
You are considered abdominally obese if your waist circumference measures 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men.
What Are the Types of Belly Fat and Causes for Females?
1. Bloated Belly fat
If your belly starts out flat in the morning and feels extended and tight by the end of the day, you most likely have a bloated belly.
A bloated belly is caused by a bad diet, food allergies, or intolerances. Common foods that may cause bloat include dairy, gluten, wheat, fructose, and other similar foods.
When our gut is unable to properly digest the food we eat, gas and fluids build up in the intestine to cause abdominal bloating.
How to lose it:
1. A major contributor to belly bloat is the gas produced by bacteria imbalance in the gut. Probiotic supplements can help improve gut microbiome, which helps reduce the symptoms of gas and bloating.
Related Post: 5 Best Probiotics for Weight Loss for Women
2. Add spices such as ginger and cumin into your food to help calm your digestive system and reduce gas and bloating.
Mint is also traditionally used to relieve pain and discomfort from gas and bloating.
2. Mommy belly fat
If you’ve been blessed with giving birth to children, you know well that your tummy is just not the same as it used to be.
During pregnancy, a mom’s belly expands and builds up fat to support the fetus. After childbirth, you are left with hanging loose skin and extra fat right below the waistline from muscles that were stretched thin during pregnancy.
The good news is that this type of mommy belly fat is subcutaneous fat and not as harmful as visceral fat. It causes more of an aesthetic issue than a health issue.
How to lose it:
1. Wear a postpartum belly wrap to provide extra support during recovery. This wrap probably won’t magically help you lose the belly weight, but if it helps reduce pain so you can be more active, it helps with weight loss in that way.
2. If you are able to breastfeed, it’ll help your body to burn up extra fat and save money to boot while feeding the little ones – a win-win!
3. Eat a healthy and clean diet along with fat burning spices and herbs to boost your metabolism and burn fat.
3. Hormonal belly fat
If you have a muffin top where your lower belly extends out on all sides and that fat feels soft, it’s likely that you have hormonal imbalances in your body.
Hormonal conditions such as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) can cause insulin resistance or high insulin levels. This metabolic condition can cause you to suddenly gain weight without any obvious cause.
Another hormonal condition that is also age-related is menopause. When a woman reaches menopause, there is a drop in estrogen that shifts fat storage from the hips and thighs to the waist and tummy.
Another side effect of falling estrogen levels is the rise in the stress hormone cortisol, which causes even more fat build-up around the waist.
How to lose it:
1. Check with your gynecologist to find out if it is caused by PCOS or other female hormone-related issues, and get appropriate treatment.
2. Check with your primary physician about getting a hormone test, or get a referral for one, and get appropriate medical advice and treatment.
3. Eat a healthy and clean diet. Avoid processed sugar and sugary drinks as they can wreak havoc on your hormonal balance. Eat healthy fats and increase lean protein intake.
Related Post: 12 Detox Waters for Weight Loss
4. Exercise daily, even if it’s just 7,500 steps a day or a 20-minute walk a day.
4. Stressed-out belly fat
High levels of cortisol, also known as the stress hormone, is the primary cause of a stressed-out belly.
Your body’s level of cortisol can determine how much visceral fat it stores in your abdominal area. Elevated levels of cortisol lead to excess visceral fat.
The stressed-out belly appears bulgy right below the ribs and expands out when you sit.
Other symptoms that you are likely to experience along with a stressed-out belly are fatigue, feeling out of breath, back pain, and sleep issues.
How to lose it:
1. Take care of your sleep. Maintain a healthy eating and exercise lifestyle and keep a consistent sleep schedule. Identify any health or environmental issues that interfere with your sleep and wind down daily with a bedtime routine
Related Post: How to Sleep Better At Night Naturally
2. Find ways to manage your stress and comfort yourself. Relieve your fight-or-flight response with diaphragmatic breathing. Practice thoughts of gratitude. Take a stroll in the garden. Listen to music.
The key is to slow down and actively practice ways to relieve your stress.
5. Beer Belly Fat or Wine Belly Fat
Most alcohols are high in simple sugars and calories which leads to extra fat storage in your body, especially in the midsection.
When you overconsume alcohol chronically (> 1-2 drinks a day for women, > 3-4 drinks a day for men), you are likely to develop a layer of tightly packed fat that sits higher up on your abdomen.
A beer (or wine) belly is generally the result of an accumulation of visceral fat, which is the most harmful type of fat in our body as it sits dangerously close to our essential organs such as the liver.
How to lose it:
The only way around reducing your beer belly fat is to simply reduce your alcohol intake, or avoid it altogether.
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